Vegas equivalent to FCP 8 pt garbage matte.
 

I have some footage to key, I want to get rid of the boom mic etc. In FCP the 8 point garbage matte masks it out, what's the name of the tool in Vegas 7 that does that?

Anyone know of a video tutorial on the howto?

In Vegas you go into the pan/crop tool. On the bottom where the timeline is there is a check box for a mask. Check that and grab the pen tool and outline your subject with greater accuracy.

Found the mask box, where's that little ole pen tool?

What full name version of Vegas7 are you using? Have you CHECKED the Mask Square? Do you see a CHECK tick?

On mine there is a column including the "Show Properties" Icon and Pen Tools. If you don't see the Properties hit the "Show Properties icon or slowly drag this column edge of the workspace "edge" inwards.

Once you have ALL these Properties showing, then select the Pen tool and click on the Workspace area and you will then see all the Pen Tools Properties coming into play.

Grazie

I have version 7.0a vegas pro. I don't see any pen tool under "show properties".

Have you checked the Mask Box?

Grazie

You are on Vegas 7a - V7 finished at 7e - you may want to consider upgrading to the final free iteration of Vegas7? Up to you.

Grazie

Okay, i was looking for something actually called "Pen tool" but it's called "Anchor point creation tool". So that works easily to outline my subject. So once outlined, how do you get the mask or matte to take effect? I'm still seeing a light stand and mic in the preview window despite the subject being haloed by pan and crop.

Had you checked the Mask box? It would seem so. It is an "Pen" Icon. Did/had you seen that previously? The "Pen" Icon?

What do you mean "haloed" and is the "What I want to get rid of the boom mic" what is that compared to the "...light stand and mic"?

Grazie

the mic is over head and a light stand off to the side, with an 8 point garbage matte in fcp you could easily remove that. wat are the basic steps?

Is an 8-point garbage matte 2 squares of Matte? Meaning one matte with 4 points and another square of 4-points? Is that what you mean?

Grazie

If you send me a Still I'll send you a VEG in Vegas7.

Grazie

In Vegas you get a "hole" when using this process. If you have underlying media it would show-up in the holes. Are you saying FCP fills the hole with an alternative option?

Grazie

I have a woman in front of a greenscreen, you can also see the mic overhead, and the light stand on the left. I DO NOT want those objects in the shot, so it was suggested to me that I try the pen to draw an outline around the subject therebye removing the offending and superfluous objects and have clean key. Right now, I have an outline around the subject. What are the next steps?

Hi Brian, once you have outlined the subject, and closed the circle, you should be done. Just get out of the pan/crop tool and go back to the timeline. Your boom should be gone.

The masking capabilities are really powerful in Vegas and rivals those of After Effects. You can do full blown rotoscoping in Vegas. And the tool is really flexible as you can also do negative masking. For example, you could also outline just the boom mic and then choose the negative mode, which will keep everything except what you selected. You can even have many masks inside and each with different modes. With Vegas you are only limited by your imagination!

You know, this is the second time this topic has come up recently and the manual doesn't really help at all. That's a shame because the advanced compositing capabilities of Vegas are one of its greatest advantages, yet Sony doesn't push them or even highlight them in the manual. I think I will find some time to do an advanced tutorial on masking, including how to use the "pen" tool with greater accuracy, understanding the mask modes, rotoscoping, etc. I ask only that some guru with a lot of advanced experience in 3D makes a tutorial that shows me how to make a 3D cube and the logic behind the techniques!

Ah! Now I understand. Good!

My approach would be to do the Pen thing - actually, the masking refers to the creation of a Bezier Mask. The Masks are created by the application of Bezier function. Select the Pen (ACT) and moving to the Workspace in Pan/Crop Left-click to place a Point and move to the next "point" and Left click - a line will appear between the 2 points and move on till you have surrounded the item, with your LAST click should be on the first point whereon you will have created a Bezier Mask.

Moving on . . . . Your BG footage is on track2? Yes? Well, by CK-ing out the green and having these 2 holes ( stands and stuff gone!) you should now have the Video on Track 2 appear through it. BUT the thing to watch out for is that you need to set the Mode to Negative. This will punch a hole.

Should be dead easy.

Grazie

Ken, I'm real glad I asked the questions? - Yeah?

Grazie

Discovering the power of Bézier masking is a pretty decent starter article from the good folks at Sony.

Vol 5 #2 and Vol 3 #3 of my newsletters also talk about masking and/or using the Bezier mask tool.

I hope you do, there are some great FREE fcp vids on the web but the Vegas ones are generally lousy -- the free ones. They're mostly done by jokey kids and they just generally stink. I've suffered through several.

I loves Ed's stuff but I do better with video tutorials rather than text based.

Thanks for all the help, the reason my mask wasn't working was I was not making a complete loop around the subject. It's like someone said here, "Make a hole".

Hi Brian, OK. I'll give it a whirl. I will do an advanced video that goes into depth on how to select and manipulate points and segments and I have a few tricks up my sleeve I can include as well. Give me until early next week as there are a few odd projects I have to finish first.